No Carrots for Dink

By John Bottrill

Dink, the donkey wakes up feeling grumpy. He hasn't anything to eat for breakfast at home, so goes to see Mrs Rabbit in case she has anything to spare. But he mistakes her bell-pull for a carrot and chokes. She pulls on the bell rope while Gruntlet, the piglet, pulls on Dink's tail. Suddenly, the carrot comes out and Dink sits on Gruntlet.
Next day, Dink finds he hasn't anything for lunch, so he goes off to find some grass. But Claudia, the cow has eaten it all. So he goes to see Billy, the goat, and finds him eating thistles. Dink, of course, joins in. Their nose meet, and Dink finds he's eaten Billy's beard. Billy snatches it back, and goes off to ask the other animals to hold a council.
Dink goes to see if Claudia has any grass left. She is munching away and humming and burping happily, but hasn't any extra grass. Dink calls her 'a mean old cow', and thinks the council should make a law to provide him with food. Claudia doesn’t understand really, and thinks 'council' might have something to with cow'. So she goes to Cyril, the Squirrel's, hairdressing shop to make herself look beautiful. Billy is there complaining.
Next day is the council meeting. Claudia thinks she's important. The animals can't decide what to do about Dink, so they ask Claudia, who hasn't been paying attention because she's been playing with the baby rabbits. She has to do some quick thinking.
One day, Claudia overhears Mrs Rabbit telling the young ones about God. She gets the wrong idea and thinks she must be God herself. She makes up a little hymn, only she calls is a hum. Mrs Grunt tells her off and demands a miracle. Claudia thinks quickly and tells her it's the wrong day for miracles.
Another day, Scroggins, the bear, fancies some honey, but the bees won't give him any. He goes to see if Gruntlet has any ideas. Gruntlet is sunbathing, and only has little ideas anyway. But he suggests floating up into the honey tree with a balloon. Good idea, but it goes wrong. Gruntlet holds the string, but starts to float upward; Scroggins grabs at Gruntlet's swimsuit but pulls it off. The balloon bursts in the tree, and Gruntlet falls on top of Scroggins.
But Scroggins doesn’t give up, and the bees defend their honey. They divebomb him. Claudia, who is also sunbathing gets divebombed too. She holds up her pillow and the bees stick in it. Claudia gets Scroggins to put some lemonade on her bee stings, but he keeps licking it off because he likes lemonade. Claudia takes pity on the bees, and sucks them out through a straw. But one gets up her nose until she swallows a lot of lemonade, and it pops out when she does a whole lot of bubbleburps.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Bottrill
• Release date: Oct 23, 2015
• ISBN: 9780992980139

John Bottrill

John Bottrill , Galicia, SpainA retired academic psychologist, I've been living in comfort in Northern Spain - a region like the Lake District, but with good weather for 17 years. This place has magic - it's the nicest place I've ever lived. Personally, I'd happily live and eventually die here. But family reasons necessitate a return to UK.The house is stone-built 1691 with some land and lots of space for guests who come to find out more about the area, or just to think about a new life in Northern Spain. You can see the house at smallholdinginparadise.blogspot.com.es - it's paradise!You can read a book about the early Boterel family, which came to UK with William the Conquerer and were the ancestors of President George Washington, at www.bottrillfamilyhistory.com or http://bottrillfamilyhistory.blogspot.com.es. For an unusual children's book or Embarrassing Palmistry you might try http;//www.contactenglish.eu. That site also has a Scottish romance, unusual in that it deals with the machinations of the Priory of Sion, pros and cons of moving to France, a story about Heaven and unusual information about the Knights Templar.You can equally well access them at www.Smashwords.com.

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